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| Movies,
Dan Wolff,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F5
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This is the third collaboration between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, after Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood, and difficult to believe, possibly their best. Set in New York 1799, Depp plays Ichabod Crane, a constable sent by a judge (an all too brief cameo from Christopher Lee) to the town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a number of decapitations allegedly the work of a headless horseman. As soon as he steps inside the house he encounters Katrina Van Tassell (Christina Ricci) and inadvertently kisses her, much to the unsurprising disdain of her boyfriend, played by Casper Van Dien of Starship Troopers 'fame.'
After a meeting with the heads of the town, Crane is somewhat sceptical of the myth until he sees him with his own eyes. Unlike most leading men in Hollywood films, Depp is a wimp who faints continually and is squeamish of spiders. After more headless corpses are found it becomes clear that there is a conspiracy being carried out by a resident of Sleepy Hollow. Scriptwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, who also gave us Seven, obviously has a thing against heads being on shoulders.
Not only is the film more than watchable because of fantastic performances from the star cast, including Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon and Jeffrey Jones, it looks breathtaking. Production Designer Rick Heinrichs, who worked on the Coens' Fargo and Big Lebowski, creates a whole gothic town for the inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow. If this wasn't atmospheric enough, Burton regular Danny Elfman provides yet another memorable film score. The only minor criticism might be that the usually scene-stealing Christina Ricci has an underwritten part which doesn't really do her justice. That aside, the film is remarkable on almost every level and proves yet again that Tim Burton is nothing short of a genius.
UK rating:
U
US rating:
R
Tim Burton1999, USA
Johnny Depp , Christina Ricci , Casper Van Dien , Miranda Richardson and Michael Gambon
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